Woman Claims Neighbor’s Energy Efficient Windows Are Melting Her Toyota Prius

CBS/Los Angeles ^ | 25 January 2012 | Randy Paige

[jda]

A SoCal woman says the energy efficient window installed in a neighbor’s condominium is melting the plastic components on cars parked in her carport.

Heather Patron of Studio City was dealing with a mystery regarding her Toyota Prius.

“The side view mirrors were melting,” says Patron. “Anything that was plastic on the car was melting.”

{snip}

Patron is not alone. Reports across the country have alleged damages brought on by concentrated sunlight reflected off of energy efficient windows.

[jda]

Oh, the irony! Save the earth, but melt your neighbor's car.

It appears to me that the concentrated sunlight from all those energy efficient windows is contributing to, or even causing, global warming. The evidence in this regard is certainly at least as convincing as the evidence that man-made carbon emissions are causing it.

I think I will start a campaign against energy efficient windows on that basis. I wonder if AlGore will join me???

[csense]

[bmwcyle]

Killing ant like cars.

[exDemMom]

This sounds so very odd. Since the window can reflect no more than 100% of the light hitting it—and is probably reflecting only a fraction of that—I don’t see how the light is concentrating.

At most, a car parked in sunshine would receive twice the light in certain wavelengths—direct + reflected from the window.

Maybe twice the light is enough to melt the plastic, especially if it is IR light, I don’t know. All I know is that this article is sloppily written. Really, it shouldn’t be that much trouble to find someone with a scientific background to review it.

[John Valentine]

Perhaps the windows are not all aligned in the same plane.

[Netizen]

Cheap plastic?

[Big Giant Head]

This sounds like BS to me. If her car is melting, it’s a defective car, not the neighbor’s windows. Otherwise, we’d have reports all over about the windows.

[C210N]

it’s a house and a car involved... no aircraft whatsoever.

[ducking]

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I think it’s hard to say how intenst reflected light would be. One of the legends about Archimedes is that he had Syracusian soldiers focus the sun light from their shields to on Roman ships and set them afire. (Historians doubt the validity, admittedly.)

If the front of the building was not flat, especially if it was convex, more than one pane might be focused on the same area. Anyone who has used a lens to torment ants knows that well focused light can be dangerous. The focused image of the sun on a screen, or an ant, can be just a bright as the surface of the sun, except for path loss.

[Pontiac]

If this were true we would be having vinyl siding dripping off the sides of houses all over the country.

Vinyl siding has a much lower melting point than the plastics used in car mirrors.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

(Historians doubt the validity, admittedly.)

Not only historians, but Mythbusters has busted this as well.

[OrioleFan]

Archimedes would have been proud.

[exDemMom]

Mythbusters did a show on the reflected light myth. Even using polished mirrors—which have better reflectivity than shields—they were unable to start a fire.

Windows are not nearly as reflective as mirrors, as evidenced by the light passing right through the window. At most, only a percentage of a partial spectrum is being reflected.

The woman’s car was parked in a car port, so it isn’t even exposed to direct sunlight. I wonder if the car port has a black roof (in So. Cal., that wouldn’t be that uncommon)... and if that isn’t the real cause of the plastics melting.

[Christie at the beach]

Yeah, that was funny this morning.

Thanks for the smile.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“If this were true we would be having vinyl siding dripping off the sides of houses all over the country.”

http://www.ehow.com/info_7856453_causes-vinyl-siding-melt.html

www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/ blogs/ dept/ musings/ window-reflections-can-melt-vinyl-siding

www.siding4u.com/ blog/ 105/ melting-vinyl-siding-from-window-reflection.html

www.lbmjournal.com/article/438

www.westkelowna.com/2010/11/23/melting-vinyl-siding-vexes-homeowners/

www.wcnc.com/ on-tv/ Melting-Vinyl-Siding-tied-to-energy-efficient-windows-83583357.html

www.thebostonchannel.com/news/24342726/detail.html

www.wcnc.com/ on-tv/ Windows-focus-sunlight-like-a-big-magnifying-glass-and-melt-vinyl-sid ing—86023697.html

Just a very small sample! Do a search on “Vinyl siding melting.”
I told my friend to be careful where he parks his Priapus. 8^)

[LegendHasIt]

Yep.
Unless the windows are concave /parabolic and VERY Very reflective, and the car is parked right at the focal point, I gotta call BS on this story

[Stosh]

Actually, I’ve seen something like that in my subdivision.

One of my neighbors has an area of siding on the side of the house that’s kind of warped and misshapen (it’s tough to describe unless you see it); during parts of the day, one can see exactly that spot (probably a good couple of feet square) irradiated by the light reflected from the energy-saving windows next door.

We’ve got the same sort of windows, but as far as I can tell, the layout of the houses on either side of mine is such that they aren’t affected by us. But since our street is curved, not all the houses are parallel to each other, and if you’re at the wrong angle, you can pick up some reflected window light, and believe me, in the worst cases, it doesn’t do the vinyl siding any good.

[Minutemen]

Ha Ha!
Why dosen't she take her plastic car and move away?

[Minutemen]

Seriously, I believe that they don't make plastic like they used to.
Lots of plastic is formulated to "self destruct" more rapidly so that it can degrade quicker after it ends up in a landfill.